— Another blowout in Game 3 of the NBA Finals will mean another single-digit national Nielsen rating. The Spurs’ 36-point win over the Heat generated a 10.0 rating in the 56 major markets, but that will drop in the nationals. However, since I pledged to an NBA contact to be less glum about the numbers, I am honor-bound to note that this will be the 33rd consecutive time that the NBA Finals has been the night’s top-ranked TV program.

— CSN Houston has picked up five Southland Conference football games: Arkansas-Pine Bluff at McNeese State on Sept. 7, Texas Southern at Sam Houston State on Sept. 14, Eastern Washington at Sam Houston State on Sept. 28, Abilene Christian at Houston Baptist on Oct. 12 and Central Arkansas at Lamar on Oct. 19.

The league also will have six games streamed at ESPN3.com, including SFA-Southeastern Louisiana on Oct. 12, Sam Houston-McNeese State on Oct. 19 and Lamar-Southeastern Louisiana on Oct. 26, and will feature eight games on its syndicated over-the-air network, which in recent years has included KUBE (Channel 57). That schedule includes Nicholls-SFA on Oct. 19, SFA-Central Arkansas on Oct. 26, Sam Houston-SFA from Reliant Stadium on Nov. 2, Lamar-Northwestern State on Nov. 9 and Sam Houston-Southeastern Louisiana on Nov. 16.

— ESPN 3D will join ESPN the Cellphone on the technological trash heap by year’s end, the network announced today. “Due to limited viewer adoption of 3D services to the home, ESPN is discontinuing ESPN 3D,” the network said. “We are committing our 3D resources to other products and services that will better serve fans and affiliates. Nobody knows more about sports in 3D than ESPN, and we will be ready to provide the service to fans if or when 3D does take off. As technology leaders, we continue to experiment with things like Ultra High Definition television (also known as Ultra HD television or UHDTV) production tools to produce our current ESPN family of HD channels.”

— Former CNN anchor Soledad O’Brien will join HBO Sports’ “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” as part of a larger content distribution deal between HBO and O’Brien’s production company, Starfish Media Group. O’Brien’s limited sports offerings included a documentary last year on Olympic boxer Marlen Esparza of Houston.

— Former KHOU (Channel 11) reporter Rosa Flores has joined CNN as a correspondent and anchor. Flores most recently worked for WBRZ in Baton Rouge and WDSU in New Orleans. She is from Progreso. Five points if you can name Progreso High School’s mascot. It’s one of my favorites.